Can the UK afford the NHS (in its current form)?

Mistermeaner

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-36275608

Demand and therefore costs rising. Public purse under increasing strain.

I don't think anywhere else in the word tries to offer this service in this way.

Much like other old British social initiatives of which we are told we should be so proud it is simply not viable given our economy.

I would move to the us model of private / corporate insurance and tax bad life style heavily to subsidise

Thoughts?

lisyloo

Agree about the issues.
I would dearly love to keep it and I think we should be proud of it.
I'd be prepared to pay a few pence more income tax in the £ to keep it.

I wouldn't like us to move to the us model but I do agree something radical needs to happen.

GwylimT

Mistermeaner wrote: »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-36275608

Demand and therefore costs rising. Public purse under increasing strain.

I don't think anywhere else in the word tries to offer this service in this way.

Much like other old British social initiatives of which we are told we should be so proud it is simply not viable given our economy.

I would move to the us model of private / corporate insurance and tax bad life style heavily to subsidise

Thoughts?

The US government spends more per head on health care than the UK.

A lot of my inlaws live in the states, my sister in law pays around $5000 a year for her premiums, when she recently broke her wrist we discovered her co-pay is $2000! Per condition.

Her insurance company wont pay for any pre-existing conditions on renewal, so now any injury they can loosely link to her broken wrist simply wont be covered.

When I broke my leg which didn't require any surgery the cost of my treatment could buy a brand new audi q7, for the premium cost I only waited 28 hours in what they call the ER. On returning home it had been incorrectly set and so I then needed surgery to break my leg again and line the bone up properly.

antrobus

Mistermeaner wrote: »

..I would move to the us model of private / corporate insurance and tax bad life style heavily to subsidise
...

Then you'd be a complete idiot.:)

The "US model of private /corporate insurance" costs the US Federal government more per capita than the NHS costs the UK government. A lot more. Something like 50% more.

Mistermeaner

antrobus wrote: »

Then you'd be a complete idiot.:)

The "US model of private /corporate insurance" costs the US Federal government more per capita than the NHS costs the UK government. A lot more. Something like 50% more.

interesting- how so?

antrobus

GwylimT wrote: »

The US government spends more per head on health care than the UK.

A lot of my inlaws live in the states, my sister in law pays around $5000 a year for her premiums, when she recently broke her wrist we discovered her co-pay is $2000! Per condition.....

I have no relations in the USA, but I watch Judge Judy. Somebody hits somebody else and suffers some very non-life threatening injuries, has coverage, but still ends up suing for thousands of dollars of non-reimbursed health costs. It's astonishing.

I've also watched Dr G - she's a medical examiner in Orange County, Florida - people regularly end up dead for the simple reason that they failed to seek medical treatment because they were reluctant to incure the expense.

antrobus

Mistermeaner wrote: »

interesting- how so?

Because health care is so expensive in the USA.

Or to put it another way the "US model of private /corporate insurance" is simply a mechanism for extracting large amounts of money from the public and stuffing it into the pockets of doctors.

Mistermeaner

You mean people pay the real cost of their care?

BTW I think the federal spend stats (or antrobuses) are skewed by Obama care which I would not advocate

Tromking

Vote Brexit and end the widespread treatment of foreigners for free. End the huge cost of temporary staffing by recruiting permanent staff, who free from the extra workload of treating the hundreds of thousands of foreign f reeloaders may hang around in their roles and thus solve the staff retention issues in the NHS. Like another poster, I would be in favour of an increase in tax.

antrobus

Mistermeaner wrote: »

You mean people pay the real cost of their care?....

Why do you want to increase the cost of health care?

Mistermeaner wrote: »

...BTW I think the federal spend stats (or antrobuses) are skewed by Obama care which I would not advocate

Then you would be wrong. The US was spending about 50% more before Obama.

Mistermeaner

The temp workers are probably still cheaper than perm staff once pension is factored in

Also I think we have already concluded that migrants are nett payers as they work, unlike large portions of the indigenous population.

Clapton may have point re house prices but don't think migrants negatively impact the NHS (unless you read the mail) I think migrants actually provide a lot of the labour in the NHS.